B.*—9a,

26

the displaced agents should be diverted into channels hostile to the Department, and a loss of business follow. The Public Trustee acts in such cases as if he had no alternative but to await the opportunity presented by the death or resignation of the agent before he can fill the post with an officer belonging to the Public Service. Thus, in a sense, the goodwill of a portion of the business of the Public Trust Office may be said to be transferred and belong to the agent for life. This is a position which we think should not be allowed to grow up. The ever-present fear of loss of business in the way described should have no weight with a Department such as the Public Trust Department, especially where the circumstances justify the appointment of an officer in the service: it is calculated to hamper the Public Trustee's freedom of control over the agents, and to give rise to other undesirable conditions. In the case of some of the smaller agents the evidence given to us is to the effect that " several are sadly lacking in knowledge of the requirements of the office, and that their methods want to be considerably improved"; also, "that the office has to spoon-feed the smaller agents, almost." It will be an advantage when the Book of Instructions to Agents is brought up to date. The present handbook was published in 1896, and, amongst other things, refers to legislation that has long been repealed. We understand that a new set of instructions is in course of preparation. According to the evidence before us in relation to one case, it appears essential that there should be a rigid rule that the appointment of an agent when he does not thereby become a member of the Public Service should not be made without first consulting the Public Trustee, and certainly not in the face of a protest on the part of the Trustee. The Office Legal Staff. The legal staff has extended its operations and increased in number during the past three years. Two additional solicitors were added a few months ago. None of its members has had any outside experience as a practitioner. It has been its practice during that period to prepare conveyances and transfers to third parties purchasing from the office. There is no legal authority for the Public Trustee to do this work, nor could the office funds be made liable for any mistake in it. As the fee charged is almost nominal, the work is of that class which is done practically at the expense of the Common Fund. We are informed that the tendency of the office is to abandon this class of work. It is more than doubtful if it should have been entered upon. A further development has been to practically issue at Wellington all originating summonses, all summonses against debtors wherever residing, and as far as possible, to concentrate all the legal work in Wellington. Thus, while decentralization of functions in other respects has been urged for the past two years, the opposite principle has been more and more applied during that period with regard to the legal business. Further, the Solicitor himself appears in Court on these matters, and is therefore necessarily withdrawn from the office for many days during the year where the matters happen to be contentious. Moreover, his time is further withdrawn in the preparation required before appearance. It appears to us that both these developments are open to objection in that — (a.) They disregard the local conveniences of parties. Why, for instance, should a debtor at Invercargill be summoned to appear in Wellington when the local agent might have sued him in Invercargill ? (b.) They are centralizing the work of all estates in Wellington, which causes inconveniences and offends local feeling, (c.) They withdraw the office Solicitor from his proper duty, which is primarily to be the indoor adviser to the Public Trustee. He should leave as little as possible of that work to juniors. Reports to us from District Managers, and the evidence given by some of the officials at Head Office, deprecate the policy pursued with regard to